Ormsby House Winchester slot bar to open within the month

The first piece of the Ormsby House remodeling project -- the Winchester Club -- will open within the month, owners told the Gaming Control Board Wednesday.

Larry Tiller made the statements in seeking a one-month extension of the license for the slots bar in the basement of the Ormsby House parking garage. The project has been in progress for a year and was earlier granted one six-month extension.

Tiller, Donald Lehr and Allan Fiegehen say they ran into a series of major delays in remodeling the garage area but are now within a few minor steps of opening for business.

The remodel of the main casino and hotel, however, will take another year to complete, they admitted.

"We are very close to finishing our (Winchester) project and if we absolutely had to, we could be done by the commission meeting (next week)," Tiller said.

Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander said the state's concern was over any change or problem in financing.

"We've been through this drill before," he said.

Tiller and Lehr said there have been only a few cosmetic changes in the floor plan.

Tiller said they want the extra time in case something else pops up but intend to open for business in a couple of weeks.

Tiller said after the meeting the bar has been painted, electrical, heating and air-conditioning work are nearly done and the bar is being installed.

The Winchester Club will be a 5,000-square-foot slot machine parlor and bar on the south side of the parking garage -- west of the main hotel and casino structure. It will have space for 125 slot machines.

Tiller pointed out that the new walkway over Curry Street from the main building to the garage is under construction. It will eventually also connect the main resort to the Winchester Club.

When the group won its initial license one year ago, they said they hoped to be open in three months. Since then, they found and fixed numerous problems from walls that aren't flat to electrical and other pipes running through walls that weren't marked.

The plan for the main hotel is to redesign it into suites combining two former rooms into one. That will reduce the total number of rooms to 127 when the resort is finished.